Labour: Introducing new academies is 'not enough'

Stephen Twigg, Labour’s shadow education secretary, has challenged the government to make “sustainable” improvements to schools that go beyond the new academy drive announced today.

He said:

The original focus of Labour’s academy programme was on under-performing schools – but unlike this Government, we worked with schools to ensure improvements were sustainable.

Changing the type of school is not enough – we need a programme to raise the quality of teaching and school leadership, which is what makes the most difference. But under this Government, we’ve seen 10,000 teachers leave the profession.

We also need a One Nation education plan – getting strong schools to support weaker schools, so that no school is left behind. That can be achieved in many ways, including through federations, clusters of schools and co-operative trusts – academies are not the only answer.